By Xeni Jardin at 9:03 pm Sunday, Feb 12
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A gasoline bomb explodes at riot police during a huge anti-austerity demonstration in Athens' Syntagma (Constitution) square February 12, 2012. Historic cinemas, cafes and shops went up in flames in central Athens on Sunday as black-masked protesters fought Greek police outside parliament, while inside lawmakers looked set to defy the public rage by endorsing a new EU/IMF austerity deal. Below, a protester hurls rocks at riot police; another flees.
(photos: REUTERS)
Read the rest
By Xeni Jardin at 8:44 pm Sunday, Feb 12
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Xi Jinping, the man expected to take Hu Jintao's post as general secretary of China's Communist Party later this year, came from humble beginnings. According to a Los Angeles Times profile this weekend, he lived in a cave for 7 years, after being sent to a rural village to do hard labor during the Cultural Revolution.
"A thin quilt spread on bricks was his bed, a bucket was his toilet. Dinners were a porridge of millet and raw grain."
He visits the United States this week.
By Xeni Jardin at 8:07 pm Sunday, Feb 12
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Saudi Arabia is reported to have used Interpol's "red notice" system to locate and arrest journalist Hamza Kashgari, 23, (image at left) over tweets perceived as an insult to the Prophet Muhammad.
The international police organization denies involvement.
On the day observed as the Prophet's birthday, Kashgari published three tweets that described an imaginary meeting with the Prophet.
The one that caused all the hysteria (including "arrest him!" campaigns on Facebook and Twitter):
"I have loved things about you and I have hated things about you and there is a lot I don't understand about you … I will not pray for you."
[translation via AFP].
Kashgari later apologized, removed the tweets, then fled the country as calls for his arrest grew.
More from the Guardian:
Police in Kuala Lumpur said Hamza Kashgari, 23, was detained at the airport "following a request made to us by Interpol" the international police cooperation agency, on behalf of the Saudi authorities. Interpol later denied that its notice system had been involved in
the arrest of Kashgari.
A spokesperson said: "The assertion that Saudi
Arabia used Interpol's system in this case is wholly misleading and
erroneous."
Kashgari's tweets are said to be blasphemy, and blasphemy is punishable by execution in Saudi Arabia. Read the rest
By Cory Doctorow at 7:45 am Sunday, Feb 12
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Here's artist Bruce McCall explaining the aesthetic of his retrofuturistic "serious nonsense" illustrations, which nostalgically recall futures that never came to past. It's a very sweet TED talk, and really nails the appeal of old ads, especially old technology ads.
Bruce McCall: Nostalgia for a future that never happened
(via Making Light)
By Cory Doctorow at 7:29 am Sunday, Feb 12
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Todd Johnson's Shockfossils are "multimillion volt Lichtenberg figures in acrylic." He masks acrylic slabs with lead and then rents time on a commercial particle accelerator and the result are beautiful, fern-like fractals.
Shockfossils on deviantART
By Cory Doctorow at 6:00 am Sunday, Feb 12
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Greg sez, "Check out this collection of all-new flash fiction from some huge names -- Neil Gaiman, Lev Grossman, Scott Westerfeld, Michael Moorcock, Gene Wolfe, N.K Jemisin, IO9 contributing editor Ann VanderMeer, and tons more -- based around a fantastically monstrous illustration by Las Vegas artist Jeremy Zerfoss. It's fun, quick to browse through, combines big genre names, cool artwork, and... monsters!"
These really are great fun! Here's Lev Grossman's "The Solar Medusa":
This appears to be a happy sun, the kind that an innocent child might draw amid fluffy white clouds in a bright blue sky. Do not be fooled. This is not a happy sun, and it does not wish you well. The Solar Medusa is a floating, translucent gasbag that cleverly interposes itself between you and the real sun, lining up its outline so that when it is in position its presence is nearly undetectable to the naked eye. Once the medusa's prey—that's you—is blinded by the glare, it lowers its long, golden tentacles—what might be termed its 'rays'—and draws you up into its warm, sunny embrace. The process of digestion takes weeks. You won't enjoy it.
Shared Worlds Critter Corral
